T.J. Ward Rips Broncos For 'Completely Unprofessional' Way Of Releasing Him
BOSTON (CBS) -- Two years ago, John Elway was on top of the football world. He was coming off a Super Bowl victory, he had properly assessed Brock Osweiler's talent level before letting him sign a big-money deal elsewhere, and his team looked poised to compete atop the AFC for several years to come.
Now, things aren't quite as rosy. The team missed the playoffs lats season, Elway's got Osweiler back in a mess of a quarterback mix, and now a former locker room leader is ripping the way the Broncos franchise does business.
Veteran safety T.J. Ward, who was cut by the Broncos on Friday and signed with the Buccaneers over the weekend, lit into his old team for keeping him in the dark and leaving him to scramble for a job just a week before the start of the NFL season.
"I mean, you could have let me know that was going on," Ward said of the Broncos. "You had a full offseason. I know it's a business, but when you have good employees, you're supposed to treat your employees a certain way. And I just think they handled it completely unprofessional[ly]. That's just my opinion."
While Elway admitted to it being a "difficult decision" to cut Ward, that didn't ease the sting for the player.
"It's just unfortunate the way they handled that situation, but it is what it is," Ward said. "They've gotta live with it. I've gotta live with it. We'll see what happens, but I'm going to make sure I land on my feet. That's just me. And whatever happens to them, happens to them. That's on them."